Separable electrical connection



March 4, 1941. E. M. SORENG SEPARABLE ELECTRICAL CONNECTION Fi led Oct. 10, 1938 Edgar 50m Patented Mar. 4,1941

UNITED STATES PATENT" OFFICE.

SEPARABLE ELECTRICAL CONNECTION Edgar M. Soreng, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Soreng- Manegold Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application October 10, 1938, Serial No.'234,142

7 Claims.

stances, to provide a better connection, terminals were secured to the ends of the conductors to take the place of the looped ends of the wire, and these, in turn were clamped in place by the screws.

All these past expedients, however, had the inherent objection of requiring tools in making the connection and of loosening due to tempera- I ture changes and vibration.

To overcome these objections, spring clips were I devised with which conductor tips were engagea-ble, but past constructions of this nature have lacked the security necessary for good electrical contact, and furthermore, were not constructed so as to withstand numerous assemblies and disassemblies.

With these and other objections to past forms of separable electrical connections in mind, this invention has as one of its objects to provide an improved spring clip type of terminal which grips the part insertable therein witha large surface to surface contact to thus insure adequate electrical contact at all times.

Another object of this invention is to provide a separable connection of the character described which is so designed that insertion of the male part of the connection into the female part is guided to preclude objectionable spreading of the spring sections of the female part.

Another object of this invention resides in, the provision of a novel manner of holding the male part assembled with the female part.

A further object of this invention is to provide a guard for the female part of the connection which not only serves to guide the entrance of the male part, but also reinforces the female part and cooperates with the fastening means in holding the guard properly assembled with the female part.

A still further object of this invention resides in a novel manner of securing the male part to a wire conductor.

With the above and other objects ,in view which will appear as the description proceeds,

this invention resides in the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts substantially as hereinafter described, and more particularly defined by the appended claims, it being understood that such changes in the precise embodiment of the hereindisclosed invention 'may be made ascome Within the scope of the claims.

The accompanying drawing illustrates one complete example of the physical embodiment of the invention constructed in accordance with the best mode so far devised for the practical application of the principles thereof, and. in which:

Figure l is a perspective view illustrating two connections forming the subject matter of this invention, one of which is shown assembled and the other disassembled;

Figure 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the female part of the connection and its guard,

"shown separated but in their proper order of assembly;

Figure 3 is a side view partially in section illustrating the connection with the parts assembled; and

Figure 4 is a cross sectional view taken through Figure 3 on the plane'of the line 4-4 to illustrate the manner in which the male part is secured to the conductor.

Referring now particularly tothe accompanying drawing in which like numerals indicate like parts, the numeral 5 designates the male part or cord tip of a connection constructed in accordance with this invention.. This member is of generally cylindrical formation and is permanently secured to a wire conductor 6, which may be insulated, as shown, orbare. The front end or tip I of the male part is tapered, as illustrated, to facilitate its insertion into the female part, indicated generally by the numeral 8, and at a point medially of its ends, it is reduced in diameter to provide an abrupt shoulder 9.

The female part comprises a spring clip l0 completely formed from a single piece of resilient sheet metal and having a flat bottom wall H from the side edges of. which walls I! extend upwardly. These side walls l2 are substantially half the length of the bottom wall I I so that they have a substantial area for surface to surface contact with the male part-while allowing a sufficient portion of thebottom wall II to be readily accessible for securement of the female part to its support l3.

The side walls l2, as stated, are an integral partof the bottom wall II and directly adja- 66 snugly gripped with a spring tension by the side walls with a surface to surface contact, and to detachably hold the male part in position, both side walls have indentations l5 which snap pastv the shoulder 9, as shown in Figure 3.

A guard,'indicated generally by the numeral -l6, substantially embraces the female part and protects it against deformation. This guard is also formed from a single piece of sheet metal but of heavier gauge than that of the female part. It likewise has a flat bottom wall I! of a size substantially commensurate with that of the female part and two side arms I8 which extend up from opposite side edges thereof near oneend of the bottom wall.

These side arms ri'se vertically from the bottom wall and have their upper ends curved inwardly to embrace the side walls II of the female part. They are spaced apart a distance to receive the side walls therebetween while allowing the same to spread apart sufliciently to accommodate the insertion of the male part, but otherwise limit the expansion of the 'side walls.

In addition, the side walls coact with the rivet or other securing means I9 by which the assembled female part and its guard aresecured to the support It, which maybe part of the electrical device or equipment with which the connection is employed, the rivet passing through aligned holes 20 and 2| in the bottom walls of the female part and guard, respectively. The side walls serve to hold the female part against rotation about the axis of the rivet.

An end wall 22 rises upwardly from the bottom wall I! of the guard in front of the mouth of the female part and at a short distance there from. This end wall has a hole 23 therethrough -coaxial with the tubular receptacle formed by the side walls I! and of a" size such as to guide the insertion of the male part into the femalepart and hold the same in axial alignment therewith during insertion to thereby guard against excessive spreading of the walls l2.

While the securement of the male part 5 to the wire conductor 6 may take any desirable form, it has been found preferable to form the male part with a. substantially cylindrical well counterbored to receive the insulation of the conductor and into which the bared end of the wire extends.

The end of the wire carries a globule of solder 24 which is confined in the bottom of the cylindrical well by crimping the wall of the male part inwardly at spaced points about its circumference, as shown at .25 in Figure 4. In this manner, the diameter of the medial portion of the well is reduced outwardly of the globule of solder and the wall of the male part is firmly clamped against the sides ofthe bared conduc tor.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, it will be readily apparent that this inventionprovides a separable connection for the electrical industry which completely obviates the present screw terminals, and which, although extremely simple tubular portion of the terminal member, said end in construction, has adequate strength to withstand the hard usage to which devices of this character are subjected.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In a device of the character described: a 5

base plate; opposed integral arms extending up from opposite sides of the base plate with their upper ends curved toward each other; a resilientterminal member positioned between the arms of the base plate, said terminal member having a flat bottom wall overlying the base plate and having a substantially tubular portion for resiliently receiving a wire tip therein, said tubular portion defining a substantially enclosed socket the longitudinal axis of which is normal to the [6 stantially in line with the axisof the socket and 20 through which an attaching member passes to secure the device to a support; and an end wall extending up from the base, plate in front of the wall having a guide hole therethrough to guide a wire tip for insertion into the tubular socket portion of the terminal member, said guide hole and the tubular socket constraining the wire tip to endwise insertion into the socket in line with turning moment on the assembled device.

2. In a deviceof the character described: a

I base plate: resilient side walls extending up from the, sides of the base plate with their ends curved the attaching. member so as not to exert any toward each other so as to engage a cylindrical 88 resilient side walls of the base plate to reinforce and protect the same and limit spreading thereofupon insertion of the wire tip between said side walls; and another portion adjacent to one end of said side walls, said other portion having a hole therethrough positioned to guide a wire tip for insertion between the side walls of the base plate.

. 3. A terminal socket of the character described comprising: a base; opposite side walls extending up from the sides of the base, said side walls being substantially semi-cylindrically shaped to embrace the cylindrical tip of a wire with a maadmum surface to surface resilient grip and having substantial length so as to engage the wire tip with a large surface tosurface contact, said walls cooperating to constrain the -wire tip to endwise insertion therebetween in a direct-ion parallel with the base; a guard formed of metal heavier than that of the base and having portions thereof encircling the resilient side walls of the base to reinforce and protect the same and limit spreading apart thereof name wire tip is inserted therebetween; and another portion adjacent to one edge of the side walls having a hole therethrough for g'uiding a. wire tip for insertion between the side walls of the base, said, last named portion being spaced from the adjacent edges of the side walls and 70 the hole therein being of such size as to preclude insertion of the wire tip at an angle which would excessively spread the side walls of the base.

4. A terminal socket of the character described comprising: a socket part formed from a single 7 piece of resilient sheet metal and having a flat bottom wall and side walls extending from the side edges thereof, said side walls being curved toward each other to form' a substantially enclosed tubular passageway; a guard member for the socket part having a flat bottom wall over which the bottom wall of the socket part lies; side arms extending from the side edges of the guard and encircling the curved side walls of the socket part to strengthen the same; and an end wall bent up from the guard member at the mouth of the socket part and having an aperture aligning with the tubular passageway to guide the entrance of a wire tip inserted endwise into the socket passageway and thereby preclude excessive spreading of the side walls or the passageway.

5. In a device of the character described: a base plate; opposed arms extending up from opposite sides of the base plate with their upper ends arched toward and contiguous to each other; a resilient terminal member having opposed substantially semi-cylindrical side walls defining a tubular passagewayparallel to the base plate and having a flat bottom wall overlying the base plate with the arms of the base plate embracing the substantially semi-cylindrical side walls of the terminal to strengthen the same; means in line with but rearwardly of said tubular passageway for securing the terminal member to the base plate; and anend wall extending up from the base plate in front of the terminal member and having a guide hole therethrough to guide a wire tip for proper endwise insertion into the tubular passageway of the terminal member toward said securing means so as not to exert any turning moment on the device.

6. A terminal comprising: two superimposed plates; opposed substantially semi-cylindrical resilient side walls extending up from one of said plates and forming a tubular passageway parallel to said plates into which a substantially cylindrical wire tip is adapted to be received and for constraining the wire tip to endwise insertion thereinto; opposite arms extending up from the sides of the other of said plates, said arms being curved so as to encircle the semi-cylindrical side walls forming the tubular passageway; and a guide on said other plate positioned ahead of the tubular passageway to facilitate insertion of a wire tip therein.

'1. A terminal comprising: two superimposed plates; opposed substantially semi-cylindrical resilient side walls extending up from one of said plates and forming a tubular passageway parallel to said plates to receive a substantially cylindrical wire tip and constrain the same to endwise insertion therein; opposite arms extending up EDGAR Ml SORENG. 

